Disclaimers: Read Chapter 1
A/N: Someone asked me what I meant by this part:
Marissa lay her hand on Seth's arm, which shut him up immediately, "Seth, I wanted to say thank you. What you did at that party…it was…well it was really brave. I don't think anybody else I know would have done the same thing."
"Ryan did the exact same thing I did." Seth pointed out.
When I said that Ryan did the same thing I meant that he jumped at Donnie in an attempt to save Luke. So the two did the same thing by both risking their own lives to save someone else. Now on with the chapter, I know it's short but I'm really busy right now and I just wanted to put something out there. Enjoy!
~*~
"Hey."
Ryan looked up from the bed to see Marissa Cooper standing in the doorway with her head lowered. "Hey." Ryan said with surprise in his voice.
"I wanted to see how you were doing."
"Fine, I'm fine." Ryan answered in his normal indifferent tone.
"Look, I know that you blame yourself but you have to see that it's not your fault—"
"Of course it's my fault! I just don't understand why people can't see it. I made friends with Donnie. I was the one who introduced him to Seth. I know what guys like him are like and I didn't stop it."
The uncharacteristic outburst of emotion caught Marissa off guard but she soon moved towards the bed and wrapped Ryan in a tentative hug. He was stiff at first but soon allowed himself to sink into her embrace.
"He could have died Marissa. He's like a brother to me and I couldn't protect him." A lone tear made it's way down Ryan's cheek and Marissa just sat there and held him, whispering soothing words into his ear for the rest of the night.
~*~
Seth sat in silence trying not to look at the girl sitting by his bed. Summer had walked in and sat down and hadn't said a word the entire time. She just stared at her folded hands in her lap.
Seth finally couldn't take it anymore and opened his mouth to speak but before he could get a word out a whisper of a word escaped Summer's mouth, "Why?"
Seth sat there in confusion for a little while before he found his voice again, "Why what?"
Summer rolled her eyes and seemed to ready a verbal attack but caught herself at the last moment and looked down at the floor, "Why did you protect me?"
A look of understanding crossed Seth's face. He opened his mouth but just as quickly shut it thinking carefully before he spoke. "Because I would never let anything hurt you." Seth stated with a shrug as if it was common knowledge.
Summer lifter her head and stared into Seth's eyes. She seemed to be searching for something, which made Seth uncomfortable, but he didn't look away as if he knew this was important to the girl. Suddenly Summer stood up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. As she was pulling away a small 'thank you' made it's way past her lips. And then she was gone. Seth sat there in spellbound silence for a good five minutes before he let a grin spread across his face. He pumped his fist in victory and would have jumped out to do a victory dance if it wasn't for his injury.
His cheek tingling from where her lips made contact, Seth wouldn't sleep that whole night replaying that kiss over and over. Things were starting to look up for the supposed loser of Newport.
TBC